1.Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a medium separation device of an automated teller machine (ATM), and more particularly, to a medium separation device of an ATM, which includes a pickup roller for sequentially picking up and feeding stacked media through a friction member provided on a portion of the outer periphery of the pickup roller, a feed roller for feeding the picked-up and fed media toward a transfer path through a friction member provided on a portion of the outer periphery of the feed roller while rotating with the same phase as the pickup roller, and a medium separation unit for separating a following medium, which is simultaneously fed with a preceding medium fed to the feed roller while being in close contact with the bottom thereof, from the preceding medium through a separation belt, so as to pick up and feed media through a partial roller structure partially having a friction member and simultaneously perform the separation of the media through the medium separation unit of the separation belt structure, whereby it is possible to effectively separate and feed the picked-up and fed media sheet by sheet by the separation belt structure and thereby effectively prevent the problem that as media are picked up and fed using a feed belt of a belt structure in a belt-type medium separation device according to a prior art, a skew occurring in a preceding medium has influence on even a following medium, and therefore, the skew continuously occurs in media fed by the feed belt.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, an ATM is an automated machine which can assist basic financial services such as deposit or withdrawal without any bank clerk regardless of time and place in relation to financial services. The ATM is configured to enable a customer to directly perform financial transactions such as deposit or withdrawal of bills and checks using a medium such as a card or passbook.
For financial transactions with a customer, in a deposit transaction, the ATM receives bills or checks through a deposit/withdrawal unit and separates and transfers the received bills or checks sheet by sheet and stacks them in a temporary storage unit. Then, when the deposit transaction is established, the ATM transfers the stacked bills or checks to a cassette to be stacked therein. In a withdrawal transaction, the ATM separates and transfers bills or checks stacked in the cassette sheet by sheet to the deposit/withdrawal unit to be discharged therethrough.
In the ATM, the deposit/withdrawal unit, the temporary storage unit, and the cassette, in which media (bills or checks) are stacked, are provided with a medium separation device for separating and transferring the stacked media (bills or checks) sheet by sheet.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are views showing a medium separation device of an ATM according to a prior art.
As shown in FIG. 1 (a), the medium separation device according to the prior art includes a pickup roller 21 in close contact with stacked media 10 to pick up a medium 10, a feed roller 22 for feeding the medium 10 picked up by the pickup roller 21 in a medium feeding direction, and a separation roller 23 disposed opposite to the feed roller 22 with the media interposed therebetween to separate another medium simultaneously fed while being in close contact with the bottom of the medium 10 fed by the feed roller 22.
In the medium separation device according to the prior art configured as described above, the pickup roller 21 sequentially picks up stacked media 10 and feeds them to the feed roller 22. In the process in which the feed roller 22 feeds a medium 10, the separation roller 23 which stops or rotates in the opposite direction to the feed roller 22 separates another medium 10 simultaneously fed while being in close contact with the bottom of the fed medium 10, whereby the media 10 is fed by the feed roller 22 sheet by sheet.
However, the medium separation device according to the prior art has the problem that when a medium 10 having a folded leading end is picked up and fed as shown in FIG. 1 (b), there frequently occurs a case where the leading end of the medium 10 is rolled in the process in which the medium 10 passes through the separation roller 23 and therefore an error occurs in the media transfer.
Accordingly, a belt-type medium separation device capable of feeding even a medium having a folded leading end without any error through a feed belt and a separation belt has been disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011-0101598 as a technique for preventing the aforementioned problem.
That is, the belt-type medium separation device adjusts the rotation of the feed belt and the separation belt with a difference in friction coefficient between the feed belt and the separation belt. Thus, the media stacked through the rotation of the feed belt are sequentially picked up and fed toward a transfer path, and the separation belt provided opposite to the feed belt separates another medium fed while being in close contact with the fed medium. Further, as the medium separation device is configured to have the belt structure, it is possible to prevent the error that a medium having a folded leading end is rolled even when the medium is picked up and fed, thereby effectively feeding the media.
Namely, according to the belt-type medium separation device configured as described above, as shown in FIG. 2, in the process of picking up and feeding a medium by a feed belt 31, a following medium 12 in close contact with the bottom of a picked-up preceding medium 11 is separated from the preceding medium 11 due to a difference in friction coefficient between the feed belt 31 and a separation belt 32.
However, the belt-type medium separation device configured as described above has a problem in that when a skew occurs in a preceding medium in the process of picking up and feeding the medium by the feed belt, the skew continuously occurs even in a following medium fed along the preceding medium due to the belt structure.
That is, in case of the belt-type medium separation device according to the prior art, as the medium is picked up and fed through a long feed belt, a surface of a following medium is brought into contact with the belt at the rear of a rear end of a preceding medium in the process of feeding the preceding medium. Accordingly, when the skew occurs in the preceding medium, the portion of the following medium that is in contact with the belt at the rear of the rear end of the preceding medium, is not even, and therefore, the skew continuously occurs in the following medium.